The Hindu Business Line : Reliance Infra, L&T, Jessops among six bidders for rail coach factory

Chennai, July 31 Reliance Infrastructure, of the Anil Ambani group, in collaboration with China South Railway, is among the six bidders for a new Rs 1,400-crore Rail Coach Factory at Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.

The other bidders are: L&T-China North Railway, Texmaco-Kawasaki-Mitsubishi, Jessops-Siemens, CAF of Spain and Bombardier.

The winning consortium will form a joint venture with the Railways, with the latter owning 24 per cent. The Railways will buy at least 1,000 coaches a year for 10 years, valued around Rs 1,200 crore.

In another development, two US companies have made it to the shortlist for a project for production and supply of diesel locomotives of 4,500 HP and 6,000 HP — GE and Electro Motive Division (EMD was once a part of General Motors.)

This project too is estimated at around Rs 1,400 crore, with an assured offtake of 100 engines from the railways. Each engine will cost not less than Rs 8 crore, a senior official of the Railways told Business Line on Thursday.

BHEL not left out

Now, the question is whether the two public sector giants in this business — BHEL and BEML — have been left out of the race. While BEML could not be contacted, BHEL’s officials said that the company could have a stake in the winning consortium.

“We are talking to both the respondents to the RFQ for coaches as well as GE and EMD for partnering with them,” Mr B. P. Rao, Director (IS), BHEL, told Business Line.

He noted BHEL’s manufacturing strengths and local knowledge could not be ignored. BHEL has been in the business of diesel and electric locomotives manufacture for a number of years. As regards coaches, BHEL plant is producing a few against a ‘development order’ from the Railways. Once the products are approved, BHEL will put up a coach plant.